vba support discontinued in future office versions. what next?

[simon]

I've read that vba support is discontinued in future office versions
for os x.

what next?

I need to develop solutions which work on excel for windows AND excel
for os x.
What alternatives are there to automate some procedures in excel in
the future versions of excel for os x - and I'd need an alternative
which runs on both platforms...?

I posted in some of the microsoft.com forums - one says VSTO will do
the job, and the other claims VSTO doesn't run on OS X...

What is the reality? Are you less confused and can give me a good
advice?

thanks

simon

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I've read that vba support is discontinued in future office versions
for os x.

what next?

I need to develop solutions which work on excel for windows AND excel
for os x.
What alternatives are there to automate some procedures in excel in
the future versions of excel for os x - and I'd need an alternative
which runs on both platforms...?

I posted in some of the microsoft.com forums - one says VSTO will do
the job, and the other claims VSTO doesn't run on OS X...

What is the reality? Are you less confused and can give me a good
advice?

thanks

simon

The ONLY alternative right now (this may change) is to use the old XLM macro
language. With a little care the SAME code will run on both platforms.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Simon,

The only possible way for Office 2008 to support cross-platform
programmability would be for Microsoft to Support RealBasic.
http://www.realbasic.com/

There are some obstacles to overcome for this to happen. First, RealBasic is
a fairly expensive programming environment. Plan to spend $500 for it.
Second, UserForms are not supported and VBA is supported using OLE, so it's
a bit clunky and indirect. Third, all existing macros would need to be
re-written, recompiled, and distributed in RealBasic. Fourth, there would
have to be a large demand from the developer community clamoring for
RealBasic support. The developer community would need to immediately let
their desire to support RealBasic be known to Microsoft in a big way by
going en masse to this web site right now while Office 2008 is under
development
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=feedback&lang=en&app=Excel

My assessment is that I don't think there is enough demand from developers
for Microsoft to support RealBasic. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think the
issue even came up at the recent Apple Developer World conference. That
would have been the time for devs to make their plea. Maybe if someone were
to bring this to the attention of the dev community via MacSlash? I'm not
optimistic about this. It's not too late, but the outcry has to come within
days, not months. Office 2008 is scheduled to ship before the end of this
year.

Then there's simply the fact that Office 2004 is the best version of
Microsoft Office ever made on Mac or PC IMHO. It has VBA and it works. It
will soon have the ability to open and save documents in the new XML file
format (if Microsoft delivers the converter as promised). It has the best
GUI of any version of Office ever shipped.

If a person or organization needs cross-platform programming compatibility
then Office 2008 isn't an option. It can't compete with 2004. My prediction
is that Office 2004 will continue to be the Office suite of choice for
anyone who needs cross-platform Office programmability solutions.

-Jim

I've read that vba support is discontinued in future office versions
for os x.

what next?

I need to develop solutions which work on excel for windows AND excel
for os x.
What alternatives are there to automate some procedures in excel in
the future versions of excel for os x - and I'd need an alternative
which runs on both platforms...?

I posted in some of the microsoft.com forums - one says VSTO will do
the job, and the other claims VSTO doesn't run on OS X...

What is the reality? Are you less confused and can give me a good
advice?

thanks

simon

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Phillip Jones]

Your making the assumption that everyone needs or wants VBA. There are
many like myself (I've been using Word since 6.0.1 days (even before the
1a improvement) And I've never used VBA nor have I used used Macro's
(since the day it was found out that office Macro viruses were
transferable between all platforms the exist on and could do equal the
damage on any platform), in fact on the Macros, I have disabled macros
on every version since then. On occasion I have OLE although OLE on Mac
worked far better on the 6 series of Word and 5 series of Excel Than in
2001, and 2006 I stayed away from Office X Mac because it was reported
it had more bugs than a Fumigator could get rid of.

While perhaps in the general office setting there might be some supposed
need for the average joe, or Tom, or Dick. or Harry or even Harriet for
that matter; It is just not needed.

Hi Simon,

The only possible way for Office 2008 to support cross-platform
programmability would be for Microsoft to Support RealBasic.
http://www.realbasic.com/

There are some obstacles to overcome for this to happen. First, RealBasic is
a fairly expensive programming environment. Plan to spend $500 for it.
Second, UserForms are not supported and VBA is supported using OLE, so it's
a bit clunky and indirect. Third, all existing macros would need to be
re-written, recompiled, and distributed in RealBasic. Fourth, there would
have to be a large demand from the developer community clamoring for
RealBasic support. The developer community would need to immediately let
their desire to support RealBasic be known to Microsoft in a big way by
going en masse to this web site right now while Office 2008 is under
development
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=feedback&lang=en&app=Excel

My assessment is that I don't think there is enough demand from developers
for Microsoft to support RealBasic. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think the
issue even came up at the recent Apple Developer World conference. That
would have been the time for devs to make their plea. Maybe if someone were
to bring this to the attention of the dev community via MacSlash? I'm not
optimistic about this. It's not too late, but the outcry has to come within
days, not months. Office 2008 is scheduled to ship before the end of this
year.

Then there's simply the fact that Office 2004 is the best version of
Microsoft Office ever made on Mac or PC IMHO. It has VBA and it works. It
will soon have the ability to open and save documents in the new XML file
format (if Microsoft delivers the converter as promised). It has the best
GUI of any version of Office ever shipped.

If a person or organization needs cross-platform programming compatibility
then Office 2008 isn't an option. It can't compete with 2004. My prediction
is that Office 2004 will continue to be the Office suite of choice for
anyone who needs cross-platform Office programmability solutions.

-Jim

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

Since I have never even used VBA since owning Word 6 or even MSWorks for
Mac.

Can you explain what the use of and virtues of VBA are I know at least
part of the name stands for visual Basic. I assume the A stands for
Architecture?

What benefit is it?

Hi Simon,

The only possible way for Office 2008 to support cross-platform
programmability would be for Microsoft to Support RealBasic.
http://www.realbasic.com/

There are some obstacles to overcome for this to happen. First, RealBasic is
a fairly expensive programming environment. Plan to spend $500 for it.
Second, UserForms are not supported and VBA is supported using OLE, so it's
a bit clunky and indirect. Third, all existing macros would need to be
re-written, recompiled, and distributed in RealBasic. Fourth, there would
have to be a large demand from the developer community clamoring for
RealBasic support. The developer community would need to immediately let
their desire to support RealBasic be known to Microsoft in a big way by
going en masse to this web site right now while Office 2008 is under
development
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=feedback&lang=en&app=Excel

My assessment is that I don't think there is enough demand from developers
for Microsoft to support RealBasic. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think the
issue even came up at the recent Apple Developer World conference. That
would have been the time for devs to make their plea. Maybe if someone were
to bring this to the attention of the dev community via MacSlash? I'm not
optimistic about this. It's not too late, but the outcry has to come within
days, not months. Office 2008 is scheduled to ship before the end of this
year.

Then there's simply the fact that Office 2004 is the best version of
Microsoft Office ever made on Mac or PC IMHO. It has VBA and it works. It
will soon have the ability to open and save documents in the new XML file
format (if Microsoft delivers the converter as promised). It has the best
GUI of any version of Office ever shipped.

If a person or organization needs cross-platform programming compatibility
then Office 2008 isn't an option. It can't compete with 2004. My prediction
is that Office 2004 will continue to be the Office suite of choice for
anyone who needs cross-platform Office programmability solutions.

-Jim

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Your making the assumption that everyone needs or wants VBA.

I made no such statement. I clearly stated that my remarks concerned the
those people who want cross-platform programmability.

While perhaps in the general office setting there might be some supposed
need for the average joe, or Tom, or Dick. or Harry or even Harriet for
that matter; It is just not needed.

Microsoft is making a huge bet that your assessment is correct and that a
lack of cross-platform programmability will not appreciably hurt sales of
Office 2008 or increase the number of users of competing products such as
Google's and Sun Microsystems flavors of Office.



--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Since I have never even used VBA since owning Word 6 or even MSWorks for
Mac.

Can you explain what the use of and virtues of VBA are I know at least
part of the name stands for visual Basic. I assume the A stands for
Architecture?

What benefit is it?

Hi Phillip,

Visual Basic for Applications is a programming language that gives anyone
who has the inclination the ability to extend Office applications.
"Extensibility" is the awful jargon word for this concept.

Wikipedia's explanation of VBA is not too bad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic_for_Applications

I've made hundreds of macros, which can be saved as add-ins, which are
applications that use the objects, methods, properties, classes, etc
contained within Office.

VBA is certainly one of the most widely deployed programming languages in
existence. It is one of the core technologies upon which Microsoft Office is
based. A simple Google search for "vba add-in" produced 754,000 hits, so
that should give you an idea of how important VBA is. By comparison, a
search for "Dick Cheny" gets 72,200 hits, so VBA is more than 10 times more
popularly written about on the internet.

MVP John McGimpsey has some suggestions about VBA on his web site:
http://mcgimpsey.com/excel/index.html#xlvbamacros

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[jpdphd]

Hi Phillip,

Visual Basic for Applications is a programming language that gives anyone
who has the inclination the ability to extend Office applications.
"Extensibility" is the awful jargon word for this concept.

Wikipedia's explanation of VBA is not too bad:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic_for_Applications

I've made hundreds of macros, which can be saved as add-ins, which are
applications that use the objects, methods, properties, classes, etc
contained within Office.

VBA is certainly one of the most widely deployed programming languages in
existence. It is one of the core technologies upon which Microsoft Office is
based. A simple Google search for "vba add-in" produced 754,000 hits, so
that should give you an idea of how important VBA is. By comparison, a
search for "Dick Cheny" gets 72,200 hits, so VBA is more than 10 times more
popularly written about on the internet.

MVP John McGimpsey has some suggestions about VBA on his web site:http://mcgimpsey.com/excel/index.html#xlvbamacros

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP infohttp://mvp.support.microsoft.com/

By comparison, a search for "Dick Cheny" gets 72,200 hits, so VBA is more than 10 times more
popularly written about on the internet.

I am definitely not a fan of the current vice president! However, if
you spell his last name correctly, CHENEY, you will get 2.5 million
hits in a Google search.

 

[Phillip Jones]

I made no such statement. I clearly stated that my remarks concerned the
those people who want cross-platform programmability.

I never said you did. read the sentence you are protesting about.

I'll Quote it.

"Your making the assumption that everyone needs or wants VBA."

no place in that sentence Did I say "you said"

Microsoft is making a huge bet that your assessment is correct and that a
lack of cross-platform programmability will not appreciably hurt sales of
Office 2008 or increase the number of users of competing products such as
Google's and Sun Microsystems flavors of Office.

BTW: I've never had anyone to tell me what the advantages are of VBA.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

I am definitely not a fan of the current vice president! However, if
you spell his last name correctly, CHENEY, you will get 2.5 million
hits in a Google search.

If he used the automatic spell checker in SeaMonkey or Thunderbird he
would have caught that. ;-)
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Touche!

I beat you. I got 3,600,000 for our VP.

At any rate, VBA is pretty popular anyway.

-Jim

I am definitely not a fan of the current vice president! However, if
you spell his last name correctly, CHENEY, you will get 2.5 million
hits in a Google search.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

If he used the automatic spell checker in SeaMonkey or Thunderbird he
would have caught that. ;-)

Heck, even Google's first item is Did you mean: dick cheney

I didn't even look at that because all I wanted was the count. Sorry.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

BTW: I've never had anyone to tell me what the advantages are of VBA.

Advantages of VBA compared to what?

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Phillip Jones]

Of Using VBA. I've just never saw a reason to use it. And I've been
using Word since Word.6.0 and Excel since 5.0. I never saw anything I
needed to use it for.

Advantages of VBA compared to what?

-Jim

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Phillip,

There's an entire newsgroup dedicated just to word programming:

Microsoft.public.word.programming

If you browse that newsgroup you will see what other people have been doing
with VBA in Word and might get ideas for things you could be doing with the
product that you are currently not doing.

At the least you will see that it is a very active group and a lot of people
are using VBA for an enormous variety of tasks.

-Jim

Of Using VBA. I've just never saw a reason to use it. And I've been
using Word since Word.6.0 and Excel since 5.0. I never saw anything I
needed to use it for.

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info